Judge Burge removes himself from cases

ELYRIA — Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James Burge removed himself Wednesday from cases that are assigned to Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo in his courtroom.
Burge said there have not been any recent arguments or push to remove himself from those cases, but he wants to focus on being the administrative judge and not having to defend himself anymore.
“I have concluded that the time spent by the assistant county prosecutors, who are attempting to remove me from Attorney Cillo’s cases, is a poor use of the taxpayer’s dollars,” Burge said during a sit-down interview Wednesday. “Hopefully, my recusal will result in better government as well as better use of the tax dollar.”
Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said Wednesday he doesn’t know what the basis of Burge’s entry is and doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he refers to the office wasting time and money on trying to remove him from Cillo’s cases.
Last year, Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor denied Cillo’s request for Burge to be disqualified from all of Cillo’s cases. Cillo had claimed that his “complex and often contentious history” with Burge, combined with public comments by Burge involving Cillo’s involvement in an alleged disciplinary investigation of the judge, had created impropriety. Burge previously contended in his own affidavit that he has no bias against the attorney.
In Cillo’s bid to remove Burge from all of his cases, O’Connor did remove Burge from the case of death row inmate Stanley Jalowiec, who was convicted of participating in the murder of 30-year-old Elyria police drug informant Ronald Lally, whose body was found in Cleveland’s Woodland Cemetery on Jan. 19, 1994. He is fighting for a new trial.
Cillo had submitted an affidavit from Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Nick Hanek, who stated Burge said to him, “he (Cillo) thinks that I would make a ruling based on him when there’s a man (convicted killer Stanley Jalowiec) who certainly deserves a new trial ...”
Burge has denied making the statement he never expressed his opinion in the outcome of Jalowiec’s case.
O’Connor wrote that Burge did not rest with just submitting a response to Cillo’s affidavit, but has commented to the media about the attorney’s allegations, which then “triggered the filing of Cillo’s supplemental affidavit with more allegations of bias and prejudice against the judge.”
The result became a public dispute and could cause someone to believe that Burge has become “Cillo’s adversary,” thereby making a possibly “intolerable atmosphere” in the courtroom, O’Connor wrote.
In two other murder cases, O’Conner wrote in an affidavit that Cillo did not bring any specific allegations of bias or prejudice in either of them.
Those two murder cases involve Albert Fine and Shannon Weber. Because of Burge’s move to recuse himself from Cillo’s cases, he will no longer hear the cases of Fine and Weber.
Fine is accused of the dismembering of his girlfriend, Catherine “Kat” Hoholski, in July 2012. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Weber, a former Lorain County jail nurse, is accused of twice attempting to kill her son in January 2011.
Burge also will be off the case of Luis Lopez, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter in September 2011.

About the Author

Kaylee is the Avon-Avon Lake reporter, but you can catch her covering different stories across the county. She is a Kent State University alumna who enjoys family, friends and everything Cleveland. Reach the author at kremington@morningjournal.com
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